LGBTs condemn attacks on Jewish community

NEWS

by Heather Cassell

The Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto
was one of many Jewish centers and day schools that have received bomb threats
in recent weeks. Authorities said that all the threats have been hoaxes. Photo:
Jo-Lynn Otto

Bay Area Jewish LGBTs have condemned the more than 100
anti-Semitic bomb threats that have occurred at Jewish community centers and
other places around the country and vow that they won't be deterred from being
open and welcoming.

The bomb threats have been made at Jewish community centers
and day schools. Additionally, hundreds of headstones have been desecrated at several
Jewish cemeteries since the beginning of the year.

One of the most recent incidents occurred March 9 when a
bomb threat was called in to the Jewish Community Center in Los Gatos. No
device was found during a search.

Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who is
Jewish, condemned the threats.

"These despicable attacks on the Jewish community show,
yet again, that anti-Semitism is alive and well in our country and around the
world," Wiener wrote in an email to the Bay Area Reporter. "The
Jewish people are never truly safe, as we have learned the hard way many times
over the millennia."

The first wave of threats across the U.S. began January 9.
Authorities are treating the threats as hate crimes.

All the bomb threats have been hoaxes, according to law
enforcement authorities.

The FBI is investigating.

Locally, the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in Marin
and the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City received bomb
threats that forced evacuations on January 18. On February 27, another double
bomb threat happened, first at the Anti-Defamation League headquarters in San
Francisco and an hour later at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center Taube
Koret Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto.

The Bay Area is North America's fourth largest – and
the United States' third largest – Jewish community, according to J.
magazine, a local Jewish weekly publication.

Jewish LGBTs make up 8 percent of the Bay Area's LGBT
community, according to the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the
Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties and the Jewish Federation of the Greater
East Bay's 2010 survey, the most recent available. The overall Bay Area's
Jewish population currently is estimated to be 391,500, reported J.

Authorities have made one arrest so far, but do not believe
the man is responsible for all of the bomb threats. Juan Thompson, 31, was
taken into custody March 3. Thompson is suspected of making eight bomb threats,
including the ADL. However, authorities believe Thompson, a St. Louis resident
and former journalist who was fired from the Intercept for fabricating sources,
was a "copycat" and wasn't involved in any vandalizing of Jewish
cemeteries, reported Slate.

No other suspects have been arrested for bomb threats
against Jewish institutions.

Interim Rabbi Ted Riter at Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, the
LGBT synagogue in San Francisco, told the Bay Area Reporter that he wasn't
surprised by the threats, as anti-Semitism was on the rise throughout the
election last year. However, he expressed concern about the desecration of
Jewish cemeteries.

"Once they started desecrating cemeteries, desecrating
a sacred space, that's very real," said Riter, a straight ally. "If
you are willing to desecrate a sacred space, I don't know where you stop."

On alert and prepared

The Bay Area's LGBT Jewish community is prepared for the
threats, said community leaders and members who, along with allies, have condemned
the attacks.

"We were seeing people being much more free with their
hate," said Riter, 48, referring to last year's election campaign.
"It's certainly increased since the election and even more so since the
inauguration."

He noted that it has worried the Jewish LGBT community at
the synagogue after a decade of progress.

"It has our community on edge," said Riter. "Our
members are feeling the weight of ... our fragile world right now after a
period of time when we have felt more and more secure both as Jews and members
of the LGBTQ community over the last decade.

"To have it feel like such a huge switch happen so quickly
has been very challenging," he added, pointing out that he's seen an
increase in attendance since the attacks began as people seek out their
community.

However, Elle McCool, a 31-year-old gay woman who is the
Jewish values specialist for Club J, an afterschool program at the Oshman
Family JCC, told the B.A.R that she feels safer in the Bay Area than she's ever
felt growing up in Washington, D.C. and living in Israel and Australia. She
wouldn't feel as safe if she wasn't in the Bay Area, she said.

When the bomb threat happened at Oshman February 27, McCool
followed the well-prepared emergency instructions along with everyone else as
if it was another drill. If anything, the growing anti-Semitism and threats
helped her feel closer to her Jewishness and her community, she said.

McCool only hopes non-Jewish people pay attention to the
plethora of threats against the Jewish community.

"I almost have more hope for the non-Jewish people to
see that anti-Semitism is still very much a real thing and it still
exists," said McCool.

The San Francisco Human Rights Commission called the acts
"horrendous incidents of unequivocal acts of hatred and
anti-Semitism."

"The very foundation of our democracy and system of
liberty and justice is compromised when these occurrences go unchallenged and
where they are not dealt with immediately and decisively," said the
statement. "These attacks on the Jewish community and the desecration of
sacred Jewish landmarks are painful reminders of a history of hatred and
bigotry that must never be allowed to fester again in a compassionate and
socially conscious society."

Wiener agreed.

"We, as a community, must speak out against these
attacks in the strongest possible terms and demand that our government stamp
them out," he said. "We also must hold Donald Trump and his cronies
accountable for opening a Pandora's box of hate that impacts many communities,
including our own."

Trump's initial response to the attacks came February 17 during
his first news conference since taking office.

"I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen
in your entire life," he said.

He also added that he is the "least racist
person."

The Trump administration tweeted a statement from the White
House to a NBC News reporter February 20 condemning the attacks on Jewish
institutions across the country.

"Hatred and hate-motivated violence of any kind have no
place in a country founded on the promise of individual freedom," the
statement said. "The president has made it abundantly clear that these
actions are unacceptable."

Standing up, speaking out

However, San Francisco's LGBT Jewish community isn't swayed
by Trump's comments, which follow his consistent incitement of hatred and his
relationships with known racists, white nationalists, and others.

Congregation Sha'ar Zahav is reaching out to others in the
community to build and strengthen alliances and giving individual members tools
to fight back during these challenging times, said Riter.

He believes that love will win and it's a path of love that
the LGBT Jewish community will walk.

"We are going to respond to hate with love and we are
going to respond to darkness with light," Riter said. "That's the
path that we've always chosen as Jews and that's the path that we will continue
as Jews.

"You can try to scare the community and we are going to
still do what we know is right," he said, adding that the community will
continue to work with refugees and other marginalized communities. "As
much as we might personally be under threat as an LGBTQ community and as a
Jewish community, we recognize that we are not the only ones who are under
threat."

He said the issue was a human one.

"We are increasing our efforts because it's not a
Jewish issue. It's not an LGBTQ issue," Riter said. "It's a human
issue. It's an American issue."

Congregation Sha'ar Zahav is hosting a free workshop on how
to respond to racism and keep the community safe. "Standing Up to Hate: A
Workshop on What to do When You Witness Racism" will be facilitated by
Renato Almanzor, Ph.D., an expert in organizational psychology, a community
organizer, and diversity trainer.